It's Been A Long Day
by LiaTheLaxChick
Summary: A one-shot of Artemis after the events of Endgame. Spoilers for Endgame. It's sad, because I'm sad. *****NOW A TWO-SHOT! HAPPY ENDING!********
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: So my eyes keep tearing up, I've full out sobbed several times, and I think my life is over. Why? Because Wally West is...Dead (Crying again). I just...I just...I still can't really comprehend this. I just...If the show was to get a third season, I am almost ninety-five percent sure he would come back. He would just...He would have too. As much as I think the producers of Young Justice are completely TROLLS right now, I don't think they are that big of trolls. I'm sure they would have brought them back somehow.**

**The real troll is Cartoon Network for canceling. They cancelled the wonderful amazing show that is (was) Young Justice. They are the reason we will never know if they truly defeated the Light, if Wally comes back, if Bart's future is better, if Dick ever joins the team again. Maybe somehow it could come back. I really wish it would.**

**For now though, Wally is dead and I can't stop crying. This is just a little one-shot where I could express my sadness. I listened to sad songs the whole time I wrote it. This is especially inspired by ****Been a Long Day by Rosi Golan****. I'll try updating S.S. Justice soon.**

**Disclaimer: Young Justice belongs to a bunch of trolls.**

_"It's been a long day, and I just want to hide away."_

_-Rosi Golan_

She was trying to pull herself together. After the realization first hit her, all she could do was cry. And cry. And cry. Wally was not the only one to die that day, part of her had too. Her life had stopped, her world no longer turning. There was no more point.

What hurt the most was that she had just gotten him back. He had carried her through the door of their apartment after the Summit and then twelve hours later, he was dead. Gone. Just like that.

Eventually, Kaldur had pulled her out of the snow and carried her onto the ship. She had screamed and tried to thrash out of his arms, begging to leave her there. Maybe he would come back, maybe he was just lost. Maybe.

Sometime during the ride back to the Watchtower, she had finally stopped crying. An ice had settled over her body. She felt cold, like the Arctic. The excited announcement of the return of the Leaguers from Rimbor didn't even affect her. She changed into civvies and left, not wanting to celebrate when half of her was gone forever.

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She barely remembered the funeral. She remembered that she had gotten up to say something, but had ended up just standing at the podium, sobbing, trying to get out some funny story about her and Wally and their life together in Palo Alto. Dick had eventually walked up to the podium and led her outside of the church. Kaldur, Conner, Zatanna, Raquel, and Megan soon joined her.

After a day spent alone in their apartment, she finally began to pull herself together, knowing that Wally would want her to keep going on. She suited up as Tigress, not even attempting to touch the green Artemis costume. She could never wear that again, that Artemis had been the girl that first greeted Wally when he showed up in the cave with sun block on his nose and a towel around his neck.

She walked through the tower, giving soft greetings to people as she passed back. In reality, she just no longer felt it. She was numb to everything. She found her way out into the grotto and for just a second, she thought she saw Wally. Her heart swelled and she wanted to smile, laugh, and cry all at the same time. But then she realized that it was just Bart, and she just wanted to cry all over again.

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One month after the day Wally died, Artemis was going through his things, packing them into boxes along with her stuff. She had been staying at the Watchtower as much as possible, not wanting to go home to the apartment that they had shared together. Eventually she decided to just sell the apartment and buy one in Star City so she could be close to Roy and Ollie. The two of them had been helping her a lot.

She dropped a picture, the glass in the frame shattering. She pulled out the picture of all eight of them at the cave. Wally had picked up Artemis at the very last second, so she was looking with confusion at Wally, who was beaming. Dick was laughing his head off while Zatanna just rolled her eyes. Kaldur and Raquel were both shaking their head at the other's antics and Conner and Megan were obliviously looking into each other's eyes.

Artemis picked up the glass, throwing it into a garbage bag and then carefully folded the picture into her pocket. The picture reminded her of happier times. The mountain was still there home, Dick hadn't disappeared, and Wally wasn't dead.

The last thing for Artemis to tackle was Wally's nightstand. The boy had kept all kinds of souvenirs from their lives together at college in there and she hadn't been ready until then. She took a deep breath and opened up the drawer. Unfortunately the first thing she had seen was a small black box. Artemis slid down onto the floor, holding the box in her hand. She flipped it open and inside was a beautiful diamond ring.

Her composure came crashing down right then. He was going to propose. They were going to get married and have a family. She was going to be a mom and a wife. They were going to be together forever.

Great heaping sobs racked through her body. She wept for hours, staring at the box in her hand, a promise of a future that they would never have now.

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Artemis didn't feel anything; she just laid on the floor staring at the box in front of her. She pictured two little kids. A girl with red hair and gray eyes and a boy with green eyes and blonde hair. Their children. She didn't eat, or sleep, just stared. She knew she was supposed to be moving into her new apartment and Oliver was probably waiting for her, but she just stared at the ring.

"Wally." She said quietly. "I miss you. Wally, come back. Why did you just have to be the hero? Why did you always have to be the hero?"

She heard knocking on her door, but she ignored it. She heard knocking again, and she ignored it again. She didn't know how long she had been there, but she knew it had been a while. She heard a door open and Bart sped into the bedroom.

"Artemis?" He shouted, before he saw the heap on the floor. "Artemis." He said quietly going over to her.

"He was going to propose. We were going to be together forever." She said quietly as he approached. He spotted the box, and gulped.

"Artemis, I'm so sorry." He said gently. The girl began to cry all over again. He rested a hand on her shoulder, not knowing what to do. He just sat there as a broken girl cried about the future that she deserved to have.

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They were watching her. She knew they were taking turns keeping an eye on her. Bart had called Roy who had come and picked her up and carried her to Oliver's. She stayed there for a few days, staring at the ring. She wouldn't let anyone take the box away from her.

The others had set up her new apartment for her while she was out of it. Slowly she came to again, but she felt hollow, even hollower then before. Every now and then she would see a fleeing image of Wally, smiling at her or chasing after two kids that will never exist.

She moved into the apartment, started going on missions again, and tried to continue on. But every night, somebody would stop by to check on her. She was thankful for the consideration, but it didn't make up for anything.

One night while Zatanna was visiting the two of them were flipping through the stations, looking for something to watch. Something suddenly caught her eye.

"Zee, stop." She says with such force that Zatanna almost dropped the remote.

On screen there was a ninja girl staring Longley at a boy.

"I'm sorry, but my father would make me kill you."

"But I love you."

"I love you too."

Artemis' eyes welled up, but she shushed Zatanna when she tried to ask what was wrong. They watched the movie, and in the end the ninja girl ended up with her ninja boyfriend. Artemis began to cry again. Zatanna put a comforting arm around her.

"That should have been me. That was supposed to be us. He...he was my ninja boyfriend. And now he's gone."

**A/N: Okay, I'm crying again. There go my emotions. I'm sorry if Artemis seemed out of character, that's just how I feel right now. I'm crying again. This sucks. **

**Wally West will live on in the hearts of fans everywhere. Spitfire will never die because we can still write stories for them. We can give them a happy ending. I promise this is the one story that I will write where they will not get a happy ending. They deserved one after all the shit they went through. It is up to us now whether Spitfire lives or dies.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: So I reread the first chapter and it was really sad. I am a big believer in the happy ending so now that my emotions have...settled, I'm going to do another segment of this story, but happier. Because we all know that Wally is not actually dead. He is just not. So here you go. Sorry if my reasoning for his return doesn't really make sense. This story is once again inspired by the awesome song by Rosi Golan, It's Been A Long Day. I highly suggest listening to it when you read this.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Young Justice, if I did, Endgame would not have ended the way it did. **

_"It's been a long year and all this mess around me is finally clear." _

Never ending days turned into excuriating long weeks, and those weeks turned into month that seemed to pass by endlessly. Before Artemis knew it, it was the one year anniversary of Wally's death. Someone still stopped by every night to check on her, even a year later. At least four out of seven times, it was Bart, still scared of walking in and finding her on the floor staring blankly at a box.

Artemis would like to think that she was better now, that she had a handle on everything, but she really didn't. Whatever handle she had on her sadness was very limited and likely to break at any time, even though those breakage's were getting farther and farther between.

What hurt almost as much as Wally's death though, was Dick's disappearance. She hadn't heard from him once. Tim saw him once, Barbara and Zatanna too, but never her. She had thought that they were friends, she knew his secret identity for pete's sake, but she guessed they weren't. It was weird, Dick was probably the person she wanted to talk to the most (Besides Wally) but he might as well have died that day as well.

On the evening of June 19th, 2017, Artemis sat along on her couch, staring at the ring box again. She never once put on the ring, that was Wally's job, but she liked to look at it and dream about what could have been. She had gotten back from a mission in Dakota City with Rocket and Static the day before and Kaldur hadn't contacted her with a new mission yet, only to talk and see how she was doing.

She heard the door open and Bart came walking into her apartment. It wasn't as big as the one she had shared with Wally in Palo Alto, but it was good enough for just her and Brucely (And Bart since he was always there).

"Hey Artemis, what do you got to eat?" Bart asked, walking right into her kitchen. Brucely jumped off of the couch and went to greet Bart. Artemis closed the ring box and stuffed it back into the pocket of her jacket.

"Same as last night. I haven't had a chance to get to the grocery store since returning from Dakota." Artemis tells him.

"Really? What did you do all day?" Bart asked. Artemis heard the door to her fridge slamming shut. Bart suddenly appeared, ploping himself down on the couch besides her, an apple in his hand.

"Um...slept. Watched TV. Usual stuff." Artemis says. Bart grabs the remote and changes the channel from whatever TLC show Artemis had had playing in the background of her thoughts. He switched it to one of their favorite bad reality shows that they had grown accustumed to watching together and making fun of the people.

"Wow, real productive." Bart says sarcastically.

"What did you do then?" Artemis asks.

"Well, I hung out with Jaime, Tim, and Cassie in El Paso. I then ran from there to Central to help Gramps with a villian and then I changed and came here. Oh, well first I checked in with M' Gann before coming here, she wanted to know if she should come as back up."

"Back up?" Artemis questions skeptically.

"You know for today. I mean this was the last full day you got to spend..." Artemis cuts him off.

"I know what today is." She says, sounding harsher then she meant too. Bart was used to it by now though and didn't even bat an eyelash.

"Anyways, I told her that I would be fine. You're going to the Watchtower tomorrow right? Everyone is having a little ceremony for him." Bart tells her.

"I don't know." Artemis says.

"You don't know?"

"I just...I don't think I can do it. Everyone will be talking about all the great things he did and how amazing he was, and all I'll be able to think about is the fact that we shouldn't be there talking about how great he is. He should be there talking himself about how awesome he is." Artemis says sadly. Bart puts an arm around her. On screen a cat fight is going on, usually their favorite things to watch, but both of them were ignoring the screaming girls.

"You can do it Artemis. Everyone will be there and maybe it will be helpful." Bart tells her comfortably.

"Well if you decide to come, you know where it will be." Bart says. Artemis just nods. The two of them get quiet, both watching four consecutive hours of bad TV in silence. At some point during the evening, Bart looked over and noticed that Artemis was asleep. He got up, gently laid a blanket over her and shut off the TV. He locked the door behind him, before going to the zeta tubes and heading back to his house.

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"Do you think she will come?" M' Gann asks, looking around the small crowd of people. Conner stood besides her, doing the same.

"I don't know. Bart said that she hadn't be sure when he saw her last night." Conner says.

"I hope she does. I haven't seen her in two weeks since we were away on Mars and she was in Dakota City. Raquel said that she seemed okay on the mission though." M' Gann tells her boyfriend, spotting Raquel talking with Zatanna and Billy over in another area in the memorial garden. Bart stood off to the side of the group a little bit, staring at the large hologram of Wally with sadness.

At that moment, Artemis entered into the garden. She didn't wear her mask, and M' Gann could see the sadness in her earth sisters' eyes as clear as day. M' Gann walked over to her and hugged her tight. All the other heroes had noticed Artemis walk as well. As soon as M' Gann had released her, Barry was approaching her. The older man hugged her as well, saying something quietly that only she could hear. She nodded and gave the man a small smile, only the ghost of the ones she had used to see her make.

Kaldur walked up in front of the group first. He stood in front of the hologram of Wally and stared at it sadly.

"Wally was one of the first people I ever met on the surface world. From the beginning, I knew he was somebody special. He was a hero through and through. Together, Dick, him, and I started the team, wishing to be equals. I'm just sad that Wally was not here to see our goals being realized." Kaldur looked like he had more to say, but when he opened his mouth, no words came out. He sadly closed them, and walked away. He stood besides Artemis, putting an arm around the girl, a small tear running down her cheek.

Conner talked next, talking about his first impressions of the boy and how it changed over time. M' Gann went next talking about how he always ate her burnt cookies. Zatanna, Raquel, Roy, Billy, Barry, Bart, Mal, even Batman, they all talked until it was time for Artemis. She carefully walked out of Kaldur's warm arm and approached the hologram. She stared up sadly at the hologram.

"Wally should be here right now." She started, but was not able continue though, because at that moment the appearance of a name that had not been there in a long time was announced.

_ B-01 Nightwing_

Everyone stood still, momentarily shocked. Tim, Barbara, and Batman were the first to react, hurrying out of the garden to greet him. Everyone soon followed, except for the original team, or what was left. Kaldur approached Artemis, standing completely still, frozen in place. Conner and M' Gann came up to her as well.

"What is he doing here?" She finally managed to get out.

"I don't know, I haven't heard from him since he left." Kaldur says sadly. Conner wrapped an arm around Artemis protectively. He didn't want his hurt sister to get even more hurt.

"We should see what he wants or at least hear what he has to say." M' Gann tells them.

"We don't have to do anything." Conner replies. "He left us, remember?"

M' Gann sighs. "He's still our friend."

"It's been a full year since any of us have heard from him. Does that still qualify him as a friend?" Artemis questions, knowing that nobody could give her a difinitive answer. Wordlessly though, they all walked out of the garden. Artemis gave one last look at the hologram of Wally.

Out in main area of the Watchtower, everyone surrounded Nightwing. Many were asking questions, demanding to know where he had been. Artemis noticed right away that his hair had grown a bit and he hadn't shaved in a while. As soon as the four of them entered the room, Dick saw them.

He walked away from the large group of people to his former teammates. He saw the hurt expressions in all their eyes, but continued to approach them. He walked up to Artemis, but was blocked by Conner, who looked even angrier at Dick then the time when he confronted him about the undercover mission.

"Look guys, I'm really sorry, but I have something really important to tell you all." Nightwing starts. His friends all give him skeptical looks.

"What?" Artemis' voice says, pushing Conner aside. Her eyes were hard and her voice cold. "What is so important that you come out of the blue on today of all days?"

"I think I can bring back Wally."

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Artemis froze, staring at him. No, he's lying. It can't be. Everyone else had heard his announcement as well. The Watchtower was completely quiet.

"How?" Bart asks, his eyebrows scrunching up, looking confused. "I saw...I saw him...disintagrate."

"That's just it! He faded away, that doesn't mean he is dead." Dick states.

"How?" Barbara asks.

"What if there is a stream of kinetic energy that surrounds our world and a speedster taps into this energy to make them go fast." Dick starts. "What if because Wally was going so fast, the added electric shock made his particles join with this force... a speed force."

"It sounds...plausible." Barry says after a few minutes. Everyone pondered over it quietly. Artemis cursed at the hope forming inside of her, knowing that it was most likely just going to be crushed. She kept hoping for him to walk in the door those first few days and it hurt her so much when he didn't. Or when she woke up from a dream where he was alive, just to find that he was dead all over again. Hope is a scary thing, it can do more harm then good sometimes.

"So how can you bring him back?" M' Gann asks.

"I've been thinking about that. If Barry and Bart run fast enough to summon the speed force, Rocket could use her kinetic energy force field and hypothetically create a sort of portal with the help of Blue's energy cannons, linking the speed force to the rest of us."

"And how do we know Wally will be there?" Roy asks.

"Well, I think Wally can see all of us. I think that he has been communicating with me. I've left things out and then when I come back the next day, they are all reorganized. Maybe if I leave a not or something, we can tell him the place and time and he could be waiting on the other end to come through." Dick says excitedly.

Everyone began talking at once at that moment, except for Artemis. The whole thing sounded too good to be true. She had noticed the same thing in her apartment as well, but she always assumed it was Bart or one of the other many people who comes into her apartment. Artemis walked away from the group towards the zeta beam.

"Artemis? Where are you going?" Oliver asked.

"Artemis?" Zatanna questioned. She stepped into the zeta beam and left the Watchtower.

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Wrapped in one of Wally's sweatshirts that still smelled like him, Artemis sat on her bed staring at a picture of her and Wally at her graduation. They were both smiling widely and you could see Dick trolling the picture in the background. A few tears splattered onto the picture frame.

"I miss you so much Wally. Some days I don't feel like getting out of bed it hurts so much. I want you back more then anything, but what if Dick is wrong and it doesn't work? What if you really are dead? I... I can't get my hopes up just to have them broken all over again." She said quietly to the picture. The ring sat besides her in the box, unopened.

Suddenly there was a rush of wind and the top of the small box was flipped open. Artemis stared at it, openmouthed. It couldn't be.

"Wally..." She said tentatively. Suddenly she heard a knocking at her door. She left the box and picture frame on her bed and walked to her door. She opened it, only to find Dick Grayson standing there.

"Artemis..." He begins.

"What? What could you possibly want?" Artemis asks.

"Look, I know you are mad, but this could work." Dick tells her.

"Nightwing..." Artemis trails off. She couldn't call him Dick, since Dick was her friend, the guy in front of her was no better then a stranger. "You can't honestly expect to show up here after a year of being gone and expect us...me...to forget that fact."

"I know, but you can be mad at me later, this is Wally we're talking about." Dick insists. Artemis just shakes her head.

"Exactly. What if this doesn't work? What if all this does is get my hopes up only to have them all crushed again? I'm...I'm trying to move on. I'm trying to be normal again. I don't want to be weak and if this fails, I'll be right back where I was, crying alone in my room every night because the person I love most in the world isn't there and I couldn't do anything to save him." Dick stared at Artemis in shock. Tears had formed at the edge of her eyes, but she quickly wiped them away. "Good bye Nightwing, please don't come here again."

She closed the door in his face. She stood still as she listened to him walk away before slowly sinking to the floor, crying. She wished that everything could go back to the way that it had been when they were fifteen.

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_"It's been a long year and all this mess around me is finally clear."_

Roy stopped by that night, Lian in tow. Her niece had begun to walk and was indignant now whenever anyone offered to carry her. She was stubborn, just like Jade. Artemis barely looked up from the TV screen. The ninja boyfriend movie was on and Artemis was watching it quietly, sadly.

"Where's Jade?" She asks when Roy comes into her vision. Lian runs right over to the couch, jumping onto it and giving her favorite aunt a hug. Artemis returned it, clutching the little girl close to her.

"She had to work late at her new job. She says hello." Roy says, taking a seat in the chair next to the couch. "Did Nightwing stop by?" Artemis nods. "You want to talk about it?"

"No." Artemis says. Lian wiggles out of her grip and then runs over to some of her toys that she kept in the apartment for whenever she was over. Roy nods at her response.

"I understand. Just so you know, they are performing the experiment tonight." Roy tells her.

"Good for them." She replies blankly.

"You sure you don't want to go?" Roy asks.

"Being there, it's still too raw. Just the thought of the Arctic makes me want to cry. To be there and not see him appear just like before... I can't do it. I just can't." Artemis tells him, struggling not to cry again. The small composure she had was falling apart. Roy seemed to notice and he stayed quiet.

Together the two of them watched the movie silently. It was completely dark and Lian had fallen asleep by the time the last lines of the movie were being said.

"So what now?" The girl asked.

"Anything. We have a world and a lifetime ahead of us." The boy said, staring down below the mountain into the valley.

"Then let's get started." The girl replied and they walked off hand in hand.

Artemis wiped her eyes. She always cried at this part, no matter what, whether it was a good or bad day. She smiled though this time, at least somebody got a happy ending. Roy got up from his seat and collected Lian.

"You good for the rest of the night?"

"I'm fine Roy. Get on home, tell Jade I say hi." Artemis tells him, practically pushing him towards the door. "I'll be okay, you guys don't need to keep doing this."

"We're just worried about you." Roy tells her.

"I know. " Artemis tells him. With that, Roy and Lian were out the door. Artemis shut the door behind her and then walked into her bedroom. Spotting the ring box and the picture, Artemis remembered earlier that day. She could have sworn that she felt him there...

She shook her head and fell onto the bed, no bothering to change or brush her teeth. She just wanted the horrible day to be over so that she can begin the next lonely day and continue on with her life.

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She awoke only about an hour later to a pounding on her door. She ignored it, burrowing her head deeper into her pillow. It was probably just one of her friends telling her that Dick's plan failed and Wally was still gone. A small tear escaped but she wiped it away. The pounding continued until it turned to shouting.

"Artemis Crock, open this door before your neighbors call the police." A voice that sounded a little to much like Wally's shouted. With speed that would have rivaled his, Artemis was out of her bed, running to the door in only an overlarged sweatshirt of his and short black shorts. She unlocked the door and standing in the doorway was Wally.

"Hey beautiful. I missed you." The Wally look alike said taking a step towards her. Artemis stepped back.

"No, this isn't true. Your...You can't be Wally. Wally's dead. This is just a dream. I'm going to wake up and you'll be gone all over again." Artemis says. The light playfullness in his eyes quickly grew concerned.

"Oh Artemis..." Wally took another step towards her and before she knew it his arms were around her. He felt like Wally.

"No...how? This... why?" Artemis blubbered, beginning to cry.

"I'm so sorry Artemis, but I'm back now. I'm never ever leaving you again." Wally whispers quietly, kicking the door shut to her apartment behind him. "Please, you know how much I hate it when you cry."

Artemis continued to cry. "I...missed you so much, please let this be real." Artemis said.

"It's real babe, I promise." Wally whispers quietly, kissing her.

"Wally..." Artemis lip quivered again. Wally scooped her up into his arms, kissing her again.

"I missed you so much too. I'm not letting you go for a very long time." Wally says, carrying her to the bedroom. He spotted the ring first sitting on the nightstand and grinned. "I see you found my surprise."

Artemis couldn't help herself, she laughed. "Why didn't you tell me idiot?" She asked. He dropped her onto the bed and layed down next to her, keeping an arm around her.

"I was waiting for the perfect moment." He said, kissing her forehead.

"Do the others know you're alive?" Artemis asks.

"Of course, but I sped here as soon as I had greeted everyone who had showed up at the Arctic, couldn't keep you waiting any longer. Dick says that he's sorry." Wally tells her. She buries her head into his chest. "Do I want to know what happened when I was gone?"

"No." Artemis tells him. He opens the ring box and slides the ring onto her finger. Artemis admired it for a moment.

"So what now?" She asked him, grinning.

"Anything, we have a world and a lifetime ahead of us."

"Then let's get started."

_"It's been a long year and I'm finally ready to be here."_

**A/N: There a happy ending:) Something like this should totally happen if there is a third season. Wally and Artemis belong together forever and ever and ever. Check out my other two stories, S.S. Justice and The Life Waiting For You. Thanks for reading. Review and tell me your thoughts. **


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